WHO estimated that 9.27 million new cases of TB occurred in the year 2007, in comparison to 9.24 million new cases in the year 2006. Of these 9.27 million new cases, an estimated 44% or 4.1 million (61 per 100 000 population) were new smear positive cases. India has more new TB cases annually than any other country. India is known to have the largest incidence of the disease in its population with up to 1.8 million affected. It is estimated that, in 2007, there were 1.37 million incidence of HIV-positive TB (14.8% of total cases) and 456 000 deaths from TB among HIV-positive people. The only global study done on this emerging threat found that nearly 20% of multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases in the hardest-hit regions were extremely/extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). There is a need in the art to have molecules that can act against the bacilli effectively to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis and as well reduce morbidity and mortality due to the disease. Moreover, this can be a strategy to overcome multi drug resistant bacilli, which is increasingly making conventional treatment regimens ineffective.
The enzyme MtbGS (Mycobacterium tuberculosis Glutamine Synthetase) was identified as a target for the disease, and it plays an important role in cell wall biosynthesis, by synthesizing Poly-L-glutamate-glutamine complex. The extracellular localization of the GlnA1 enzyme from M. tuberculosis, M. bovis and other similar bacteria was associated with its involvement in the synthesis of a cell wall component poly(L-glutamic acid glutamine).
B. A. Adeniyi et al in an article titled “In vitro anti-mycobacterial activities of three species of Cola plant extracts (Sterculiaceae)” in Phytotherapy Research, Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages 414-418, published online: 26 May, 2004; discloses the screening of extracts obtained from three Nigerian Sterculiaceae plants: Cola accuminata, C. nitida and C. milleni for anti-mycobacterium properties using a slow growing Mycobacterium bovis ATCC 35738 at 1000 μg/ml using the radiometric (BACTEC) method. The extracts were also tested against six fast growing ATCC strains of M. vaccae using the broth microdilution method. The methanol extracts from both leaves, stem bark and root bark of Cola accuminata and from the leaves and stem bark of C. nitida and C. milleni were not active at the highest concentration of 1000 μg/ml. Only the methanol extract of root bark for both C. nitida and C. milleni were found to be potent against both M. bovis and strains of M. vaccae. 
Tullius, M. V., G. Harth, and M. A. Horwitz. 2001. High extracellular levels of Mycobacterium tuberculosis glutamine synthetase and superoxide dismutase in actively growing cultures are due to high expression and extracellular stability rather than to a protein-specific export mechanism. Infect. Immun. 69:6348-6363.